The McKinsey Quarterly recently published the results of a Global Survey conducted earlier this year on how businesses were using Web2.0.
This McKinsey Global Survey highlighted that respondents (2,847 executives worldwide, 44 percent of whom hold C-level positions) show widespread but careful interest in this trend.
Expressing satisfaction with their Internet investments so far, they say that Web 2.0 technologies are strategic and that they plan to increase these investments. But companies aren’t necessarily relying on the best-known Web 2.0 trends, such as blogs; instead, they place the greatest importance on technologies that enable automation and networking”.
Key take-aways from this report include:
More than half of the executives are pleased with the results of their investments in Internet technologies over the past five years, and nearly three-quarters are planning to maintain or increase investments in Web 2.0 technologies in the coming years.
Asked what might have been done differently to make the previous investments in Internet technologies more effective, 42 percent would have strengthened their companies’ internal capabilities to make the most of the market opportunity at hand.
Among the executives familiar with the nine Web 2.0 trends cited in the survey, more than three-fourths are already investing in one or more of these, the most frequently cited investment being Web services, used or considered by 80 percent of the respondents.
Nearly two-thirds of the companies investing in these new technological developments consider them as important for maintaining the company’s market position, either to provide a competitive edge or to match the competition and address customer demand.
Web 2.0 technologies are used to communicate with customers and business partners as well as to encourage collaboration inside the company. 70 percent are using some combination of these technologies for communicating with their customers. 75 percent are using these same technologies to help collaborate and manage knowledge internally.
Technologies for automation and collaboration appear to be gaining more traction than some of the technologies that have received more attention in the press such as blogs, podcasts, wikis or mash-ups.
Other key highlights and insights from this survey include the following:
Companies using Web 2.0 technologies have developed an easier and more flexible way of bringing technology into businesses. As opposed to traditional top-down approaches, many of these technologies start at a company’s grassroots level. Most Web 2.0 tools are simple-to-use applications that are hosted offsite, which makes them easy to implement. The ease of exploring these technologies is helping advocates avoid typical barriers to implementation (or perhaps just inertia) by quickly pulling together prototypes.
There may also be differences in adoption styles between executives who are using many Web 2.0 technologies and those who are exploring few. Indeed, the more prolific users show a tendency to leap into grassroots efforts, while the light users appear to take a more cautious and traditional approach.
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